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Crystallex International Corporation is a Canadian-based gold company with a successful record of developing and operating gold mines in Venezuela and elsewhere in South America

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Message: The DE District Court Punt

Judge Stark decided to punt the case to the Supreme Court.

Venezuela / PDVSA have 90 days from the Third District Cour of Appeals decision (Nov. 21, 2019) to request a Writ of Certiorari. Failure to do so would automatically void the stay by the DE Court and require it to resume the case.

Four of the nine SCOTUS Justices must agree to grant the Writ of Certiorari; and five Justices must approve the continuation of the stay until the full court reviews and rule on the case following the approaval of the Writ of Certiorari.

Note Judge Stark's reference to and concern about the Third DCOA quote  “Venezuela owes Crystallex from a judgment that has been affirmed in our courts. Any outcome where Crystallex is not paid means that Venezuela has avoided its obligations". The issue here is "substantive injustice", an outcome that the SCOTUS has already established cannot be justified by improperly enforcing the Foreign State Immunity Act (FISA).  

This is one of the main issuess the SCOTUS will need to balance against the questions raised in regards to the POTUS executive privilages in dealing with state matters. There is, however, a strong presedent set by the SCOTUS in Citibank v. Bancec:

Held. (O’Connor, J) Attributing liability among instrumentalities of a foreign state is not affected by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976.  The FSIA was not enacted to alter the substantive law of liability. When a claim is asserted by a foreign sovereign in the U.S court, the state is barred from asserting a defense of sovereign immunity to defeat a setoff or counterclaim due to the consideration of a fair dealing. 

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